Woven friction fabrics



May 20, 1958 HJHOROWITZ 2,835,279

- WOVEN FRICTION FABRICS Filed Nov. 5, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORATTORNEY May 20, 1958 H. HOROWITZ WOVENFRICTION FABRICS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2Filed Nov. 5. 1952 R E O 0 E 0 0 fl m A r f 0 HB United States Patent2,835,279 WOVEN FRICTlON FABRICS Harry Horowitz, Summit, N. 3.

Application November 5, 1952, Serial No. 318,899

7 Claims. (Cl. 139-421) The present invention relates to a frictionweave or an anti-slip woven fabric and to a method and machine formaking the same.

It is among the objects of the present invention to make a novelanti-slip fabric which may be readily manufactured on standard widthlooms and in which a plurality of natural or synthetic rubber, or bothor a mixture of both, anti-friction strips are woven in superimposedsideby-side relationship and combination with the weaving of the base ofthe fabric.

Another object is to provide a novel method and means for makinganti-slip fabrics preferably in a series of strips on a standard loom ata minimum of expense and with a minimum of time and labor.

A further object is to provide a novel machine and method for weavinganti-slip rubber strips or bands into a woven fabric as such fabric isbeing woven, with assurance that the friction strips will not be caughtor slow up the weaving of the fabric but will be fed in substantially atthe same rate together with t to warp yarn.

Still further objects and advantages will appear in the more detaileddescription set forth below, it being understood, however, that thismore detailed description is given by way of illustration andexplanation only and not by way of limitation, since various changestherein may be made by those skilled in the art without departing fromthe scope and spirit of the present invention.

In accomplishing the above objects, it has been found most satisfactoryaccording to the present invention to weave the base fabric out of astandard warp and filler yarn. Although various types of weaves may beutilized, it has been found most satisfactory to use a taffeta weavewith a relatively heavy cellulose acetate or other thermo plastic orrayon yarn forming around the warp or the filling or both. Although thesize and the weight of the yarn may widely vary, it has been found mostsatisfactory to provide a talfeta weave in which the warp or the fillingor both are above 100 denier or between 200 and 350 denier.

The friction strands are desirably fed in warp-wise and may be fed infrom a slitted strip so that they will be superimposed upon the basicwoven fabric and tied in position by means of spaced filler yarns orpicks.

In a preferred form the cut square or rectangular cross section stripsof synthetic or natural rubber, or both or mixtures, are fed inwarp-wise over the regular warp in a close juxtaposition so that theywill be parallel to each other and flat against the fabric withoutstanding on edge.

A series of strips of this sort may be woven into the fabric byproviding an independent feed beyond and to the rear of the normal Warpbeam. To accommodate the tension and tendency of the square orrectangular cross section rubber strip to catch or stretch, they aredesirably fed in through a separate fixed reed positioned above the warpbeam of the usual loom and then through extra wide openings in theheddle eyes of the harness frame and then through openings in the reedpositioned on top of the reciprocating lay.

An important feature of the present invention resides in the provisionof a let-off mechanism at the rear of the loom, which let off theelastic yarns into the warp shed at a rate at least as fast as the warpbeam lets off the warp yarns.

It has been found most suitable, according to one embodiment of thepresent invention, to actuate the elastic or rubber yarn or rubber yarnlet off from the whip roll acting upon the warp yarns or from a dobbymotion or other moving parts of the loom to synchronize with the warplet-off or cloth take-up.

With the foregoing and other objects in view the invention consists ofthe novel construction, combination and arrangement of parts ashereinafter more specifically described, and illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, wherein is shown an embodiment of the invention,but it is to be understood that changes, variations and modificationscan be resorted to which fall within the scope of the claims hereuntoappended.

in the drawings wherein like reference characters denote correspondingparts throughout the several views:

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic side elevational view of the rear of a loommechanism together with the rubber warp yarn feed mechanism said warpyarn feed mechanism being upon somewhat of a reduced scale as comparedto the rear end of the loom mechanism.

Fig. 2 is a side diagrammatic view of the forward portion of the loommechanism showing the harnesses, lay and reed.

Fig. 2a is a fragmentary view showing the position of the shuttle inrespect to the lay, the reed and the fell position, which is shown insmaller scale at the right in Fig. 2.

Fig. 3 is a side elevational view of part of the rubber strand feedmechanism.

Fig. 4 is a top view illustrating the woven fabric upon an enlargedscale as compared to Figs. 1 to 3.

Fig. 5 is a transverse sectional view upon the line 5-5 of Fig. 4 uponan enlarged scale as compared to Fig. 4, showing how the cut rubberstrips or yarns are positioned in side by side relationship on the topof the fabric.

Referring to Figs. 1, 2 and 3 there is shown a warp beam A for feeding awarp to a loom. The warp B passes over the whip roller C to theharnesses D which form the sheds E and then over a lay F across whichpasses a shuttle G, and through a reed H.

The woven fabric J passes over the front: beam K and down to the wind upin the direction 1..

The rubber strips are fed from a container M in the form of a slittedstrip N and are then suitably driven separated in tension by the deviceP, and then through a fixed shed above the warp beam A.

The device P is driven from the main shaft R of the loom through aratchet mechanism 8.

Referring specifically to Figs. 1 and 2 there is shown the main shaft Rwhich drives the hand wheel and the cam 21. Upon the cam 21 rides thefollower 22 on the arm 23.

The arm 23 oscillates on the shaft 24 and reciprocates the shaft 25 ofthe whip roller C. The whip roller C will reciprocate as indicated bythe double arrow 26 lifting and lowering the warp yarns B as theyprogress forwardly as indicated at 27.

On the oscillating arm 23 is positioned a collar 28 which holds the arm30 by the connection 29. The arm 30 has an adjustable connection at $2to the lower arm 31. The lower arm 31 is clamped by the nut 33 in anadjusted position with respect to the slot 34 in the arm 35. The arm 35has an extension 36 which is pivotally mounted on the/shaft 37. The arm35 also carries the driving pawl 38 which is pivotally mounted at 39 onthe upper portion of the arm 35.

The pawl has a pressure spring 40 which tends to press the pawl tooth 41downwardly and inwardly against the serrated edge 42 of the ratchetwheel 43.

The pawl wheel or ratchet wheel 43 is held in position by means of thedetent pawl 44 which is pivotally mounted at 45 and is provided with aspring 46.

The pawl Wheel or ratchet wheel 38 drives the sprocket wheel 60 whichcarries the chain 61. The chain 61 also passes over the sprocket wheels62 on the shaft 63 and the sprocket wheel on the shaft 65.

The sprocket wheel 64 drives the shaft 65 and in turn drives the bevelgear 75 which meshes with the gear 76 (see Fig. 3). The gear 76 in turndrives the shaft 77 which by the bevel gear 78 and 79 drives the shaft80. The shafts 65 and 80 drive the feed wheels 81 and 82 (see Fig. 3)over which passes the elastic yarns N.

The shafts 65, 77 and 80 are supported upon the frame structure 83having the base 84 which in turn is supported upon the table 85 and thelegs 86.

The shaft 77 has bearings at 87 and 88 while the shafts 65 and 80 havebearings in the frame structure 83.

The slitted elastic strip or rubber strip N is fed up from the box Munder the table 85, then between the two guide rods 89 and 90. Then itpasses over and under the rollers 91 and 92 on the arcuate member 93.The arcuate member 93 is pivotally mounted at 94 on the handle of thearm 95.

The arm 95 is carried on the arm 99 which is pivotally mounted at 97upon the frame 83. These arms 99 are held down by the springs 98 whichare attached to the points 99 and 100.

A similar arrangement is positioned at the other side of the feed deviceP as indicated by the same numerals. These rollers 91 and 92 riding uponthe rollers -81 and 82 will assure a correct feed of the slitted rubberyarns N forwardly toward the warp beam.

The drive will be from the whip roller arm 23 through the ratchet 43 andthrough the chain 61 and it will be at the same rate as the warp letoff. However, it will be noted that the warp beam moves more rapidly asthe warp is fed from a smaller diameter at 101 in Fig. 1, whereas therubber yarns are fed at a uniform rate from the chain 61 through theshafts 65, 77 and 80.

Between the rolls 81 and 82 the alternate slit rubber threads areseparated as they pass under the feed guide 115 so that alternatethreads will pass under the upper guide 116 at the top and 117 at thebottom of the feed mechanism P. Then they are again united to pass underthe guide roller 118 and under the roller 82.

The rollers 81, 82, 91 and 92 may have serrated faces so as to assure asmooth, uniform feed of the anti-slip or friction rubber yarn until itreaches position 119 where it passes through the fixed reed 120supported on the table 121 above the warp beam A (see Fig. 1).

Referring to Fig. 2 the fabric or textile warp ends 120 are desirablykept inside of the rubber warp ends 121 which form the shed so that theshuttle G, in being drawn backwardly and forwardly across the lay F,will contact the textile yarns rather than the rubber yarns.

At the same time the reed H and the heddle eyes and the harness Dcarrying the rubber yarns are made sufficiently open so that the rubberstrands will slide readily therethrough and will not tend to catch attheir sharp edges.

The final woven fabric as shown in Figs. 4-and has a plurality of rubberstrands 150 of the rectangular cross section which are held in positionby means of the filler ends 151 on top of the woven fabric I. It will benoted that these woven rubber strands 150 are held in side by siderelationship and are not gathered or clumped together. As a result theirsharp edges 152 (see Fig. 4) will project for anti-slip or frictionpurposes.

"Where the fabric as shown in Fig. 4 is to be used as for examplefriction waist bands, it may be slit at positions 153 between theelastic or rubber strips and the split edges may be sewn or adhesivelysealed to gether particularly where a thermo plastic, cellulose acetateor similar yarn has been employed.

If desired the slitting operation may take place as the fabric passesbeyond the front beam K and these cutter forms may be provided with heatsealing means to provide the filler or warp itself or both to sealtogether because of their thermo plastic character.

The procedure of the present invention permits square cross section orrectangular cross section rubber strips to be woven into a taffeta weavefabric for regularly heavy yarns of to 300 denier and permits a largenumber of friction strips as shown in Fig. 4 to be performed in side byside relationship.

The let off as indicated at P for the elastic yarns is coordinated withthe warp beam let off by means of the ratchet 43 and the chain 61 sothat the rubber strands will be fed into the shed at the same time andat the same rate as the warp ends.

The final fabric as shown in Figs. 4 and 5 with the rubber strands insuperimposed relationship on top of the woven fabric will assure mosteffective anti-friction bands making use of at least two edges of therubber strips 150 which will be bowed upwardly as indicated in Fig. 4 asthey are pulled down by the filling ends 151.

As many changes could be made in the above friction woven fabrics andmethod and machine for making the same, and many widely differentembodiments of this invention could be made without departing from thescope of the claims, it is intended that all matter contained in theabove description shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in alimiting sense.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of theinvention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, what isclaimed is:

1. An anti-slip friction fabric comprising a woven fabric base and aplurality of rectangular cross section flat rubber strips woven inposition in side by side relationship on the top thereof, said strandsin each group being positioned in a single layer in side-by-sidecontacting relationship with their bottom faces flat against the basefabric and their upper faces and edges in a plane parallel to the wovenfabric face with the upper side edges of the strands being free forgripping purposes, said rubber strips being wider in dimension than inthickness and lying entirely upon the surface of the fabric face withoutpenetrating therein or therethrough and said strips being compresseddown against the fabric face at their bottom faces and against oneanother at their contacting side faces byspaced filler strands whichextend over alternate rubber strips and then through and under thefabric base.

2. An anti-slip friction fabric comprising a woven fabric base and aplurality of rectangular cross section flat rubber strips woven inposition in side by side relationship on the top thereof, said fabrichaving a taffeta weave, said strands in each group being positioned in asingle layer in side-by-side contacting relationship with their bottomfaces flat against the base fabric and their upper faces and edges in aplane parallel to the woven fabric face with the upper side edges of thestrands being free for gripping purposes, said rubber strips being widerin dimension than in thickness and lying entirely upon the surface ofthe fabric face without penetrating therein or therethrough and saidstrips being compressed down against the fabric face at their bottomfaces and against one another at their contacting side faces by spacedfiller strands which extend over alternate rubber strips andthen throughand under the fabric base.

3. An anti-slip friction fabric comprising a woven fabric base and aplurality of rectangular cross section flat rubber strips woven inposition in side by side relationship on the top thereof, said fabrichaving thermoplastic strands woven warp wise therein whereby the edgesmay be heat sealed, said strands in each group being positioned in asingle layer in side-by-side contacting relationship with their bottomfaces flat against the base fabric and their upper faces and edges in aplane parallel to the woven fabric face with the upper side edges of thestrands being free for gripping purposes, said rubber strips being Widerin dimension than in thickness and lying entirely upon the surface ofthe fabric face without penetrating therein or therethrough and saidstrips being compressed down against the fabric face at their bottomfaces and against one another at their contacting side faces by spacedfiller strands which extend over alternate rubber strips and thenthrough and under the fabric base.

4. An anti-slip woven fabric having a base Woven textile fabric and aplurality of surface rubber strands woven in separated spaced groupsalong the top face of the woven fabric, said strands being ofrectangular crosssection and the strands in each group being positionedin a single layer in side-by-side contacting relationship with theirbottom faces flat against the base fabric and their upper faces andedges in a plane parallel to the woven fabric face with the upper sideedges of the strands being free for gripping purposes, said rubberstrands being wider in dimension than in thickness and lying entirelyupon the surface of the fabric face without penetrating therein ortherethrough and said strands being compressed down against the fabricface at their bottom faces and against one another at their contactingside faces by spaced filler strands which extend over alternate rubberstrands and then through and under the fabric base.

5. The fabric of claim 4, said strands being drawn downwardly atintervals so as to cause them to cant laterally while their bottom facesare pressed against the base fabric.

6. The fabric of claim 4, said strands being compressed at intervals byfiller threads so as to cause them to bulge outwardly at their upperside edges.

7. A non-slip fabric having a base fabric with a taffeta woven warp andfiller and including a heavy cellulose acetate yarn and both the warpand the filler being between 200 and 350 denier, said warp and fillerbeing of circular cross section, and spaced grouped rows of fourparallel flat rubber strands of rectangular cross section having asubstantially greater Width than thickness which strands have their basesides pressed down against the base fabric and their sides in each groupof four pressed against each other, and additional spaced fillersextending across and over alternate rubber strands of each group andthen under the base fabric between the grouped rows, said strands beingentirely constrained to lie on top of the base fabric withoutpenetrating and extending thereinto and without extending therethrough,said rubber strands being tensioned when attached to the base fabric andfed thereto warpwise during the weaving.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,666,686 Chisholm Apr. 17, 1928 1,781,817 Kenyon Nov. 18, 19302,557,315 Schiappa Q June 19, 1951 2,638,130 Posson May 12, 19532,646,828 Hesse July 28, 1953

